Sometimes you see or hear about something happening, and it changes your life forever. For many people, it might well be the footage and photos released last week of a piggery near Canberra. An investigation by Animal Liberation ACT and Animal Liberation NSW revealed some of the most appalling cruelty and neglect ever filmed on an Australian factory farm.

You can see footage and photos from the investigation here (WARNING: the content of the website is very distressing).

Just 20 mins drive from our nation's capital, workers were shown kicking piglets across the floor. In a room next to their mothers (within ear shot), young pigs screamed as they were beaten over the head with a sledgehammer and then slaughtered without any effective stunning. Footage shows some pigs apparently conscious and struggling for minutes after their throats had been cut. Buckets were filled with dead piglets, and various types of injuries and infections were left untreated. The footage is like some kind of sick horror movie.

Amidst the brutality and neglect, the scene I found perhaps most heartbreaking was a mother pig standing in a tiny crate, just being continuously pounded by a flood of water from a burst pipe. That these intelligent and sensitive animals could be treated so horribly is just devastating.

Even though a lot of what was filmed showed illegal cruelty, the legal practices filmed will also shock you. Piglets have their tails and teeth cut off without painkillers. Pregnant sows are confined to tiny crates where they're not given enough room to even turn around. This is legal and standard practice in piggeries across Australia. As is the dank and dark conditions evident in the footage. For many factory farmed pigs the first time they will feel the sun on their backs is also their last as they are transported to slaughterhouses to be killed.

Unfortunately, the abuse at Wally's Piggery isn't the first time (even recently) that farmed animals in Australia have been subject to such mistreatment. Earlier this year, a review in NSW found animal welfare breaches at *every* single slaughterhouse in the state. And late last year, an abattoir in Victoria was permanently closed because of extreme cruelty.

Hopefully, anyone involved with Wally's Piggery will face the full force of the law for what they've done. This won't help pigs who continue to experience fear, distress and cruelty in Australian piggeries which aren't breaking any laws, though. If you want to make a real difference to them, then don't eat them. By going veg you'll single-handedly save 100 animals every year, and you won't be contributing to an industry that puts profits before the welfare of animals.

If you've already gone veg, what was it that helped make your decision?

this really makes me un happy, how could a human possible give a living animal so much pain like this. Even the screams of the pig, it would kill me. How they can sleep at night really worries me. via Unleashed

So heartbreaking... Cannot even click the links as the information provided is so distressing!!
So sad to think that this is what some people grew up to believe is right and good!!
These animals have feelings...
WHY DONT PEOPLE SEE THEM!! via Unleashed

Hey guys! There is a petition to stop this piggery. Just click on the link to their site and go to the fourth tab down on the left and put your name down. We need all the signatures we can get to stop this cruelty.

This is so disturbing. I've been in shock. It's hard to find the words to really express the absolute horror that those beautiful pigs go through. There is around 12,000 signatures on the petition last time I checked which is incredible!
Going to the rally on Saturday, really looking forward to it. Making vegan cupcakes to share afterwards.
I made a forum on this yesterday thinking it was the first! You beat me to it via Unleashed

Omg! I would love to shove them in one of those pen things and hit them and then beat them to death and see how they like having painful procedures done! Well not actually do it but I would like to see how they like it! And I find it appalling that there are no laws about this degree of cruelty! If it was a human in there the whole of the police and detectives and all that would be all over it;it would be all over the news! And they would most likely be sentenced to life in jail! But since it's pigs it doesn't matter to them! Ugh what has happened to our government! via Unleashed

To say nothing of the extreme damage these conditions do to the people who work there. The toxins in the air damage the lungs of animals and humans and the psychological damage of daily cruelty and noise are horrendous. This is a cruel and ugly situation for both humans and animals and the employees may have a legal case for danger and long term health consequences. That would put the farms owners right on the bullseye of government retribution. via Unleashed

RSPCA NSW have left the pigs in this mans care despite him having been found guilty of running an illegal slaughterhouse at the same place NINETEEN YEARS AGO (1993).

Unless he is prevented from owning animals he will continue to bludgeon pigs to death with sledgehammers as he has shown over the past two decades. PLEASE share this campaign as widely as you are able to bring justice for these pigs, whom are as we speak, still in this mans "care". via Unleashed

Thank you Debaybay for the link to the petition
It's awful to read about what is happening to these pigs and even more awful that it really is happening - in Australia, our own country.
I hope this does come to an end, pigs are such beautiful animals. via Unleashed

all together we can do something for the animals. for example, if you can't be vegetarian, at least buy free range meat, and be sure that the animals had a decent life and a " human slaughtery. via Unleashed

This is really heart-wrenching. How many ounces of brain are required for a Human Being who calls himself civilized and evolved to learn to respect the life of fellow sentient beings and treat them with Love and compassion.

This video shows everything. Those animals are captive for their entire lives, raped for production, sold for profit and are slaughtered by the most inhumane and painful methods. we are doing to animals what we can't tolerate and can't even imagine happening to us or our loved ones. They are sentient beings like us with pain, fear, joy, feelings, emotions, social relationships and even strong familial bonds an dparental care. Depriving them of everything and treating them like mechanical objects meant for just food is the least they deserve and it is not in line with Human values and ethics. via Unleashed

Vividly remember walking past the market place with my Mom and seeing a cow being hung up to be killed. Heard its screams. Could not understand for the life of 5 year old me how humans, the 'advanced' species, could abuse their power so effortlessly and do this for a living. At least kill animals for meat in a matter that does not make them suffer, and in a manner that actually allows you to go about the rest of your day without feeling like a murderer? Sometimes it's just sickening to see how sadistic fellow humans can be. Either way, I've been vegan since then! Never looked back even once. Thinking of the taste of dead animals in my mouth is disgusting to me, and I doubt I will ever go back... via Unleashed

I admit to being too scared to look at the video. Too scared because I knew it would make me angry, frustrated and helpless. All I can do is sign the petition. The script is enough to make me feel so angry at these people. Makes me ashamed to be part of the human race. via Unleashed

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We’re supposed to let you know that the ideas expressed here are the views of the individual authors, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Animals Australia or Animals Australia Unleashed. So now you know.